The Heroes of the galaxy
by ricojohn
Summary: Annabeth Chase is a pilot. She is loyal to the Empire but one event rocks her understanding of what she has been doing. Can she continue to serve them when the truth comes to light? Complete! M for graphic moments.


A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR: This idea has been eating at me for a while now, so here it is.

Enjoy!

POV: Annabeth

"All pilots, man your stations!" The speakers repeated for the fifth time as I sprinted into the hanger and met up with my squad.

"Listen up, Cloud Stormers!" I shouted at them. "The enemy is at our front door and expecting to catch us with our pants down, but that's not going to happen!"

There was a murmur of agreement amongst the squad. "It's true they've dealt us some serious blows these last few years but Cloud Stormer squadron wasn't present for any of those days! If we were there they would all be in a million pieces right now!"

There were more enthusiastic yells of 'Yah!' And 'Dam strait!' at that.

"We've all lost people," I began in a quieter tone. "Friends, relatives, even families." I paused. "We weren't there to stop them from hurting them before but we are here now!"

Again, the squad was enthusiastic.

"So let's make them pay for ever bomb they've set off!" I scream.

"Yah!" The squad answers.

"For every world, they've invaded!"

"Yah!"

"For every one they've taken from us!"

"Yah!"

"Gear up!" I screamed. "And let's take the fight to them!"

The squad cheered and broke off to run to their fighters.

I threw on my helmet and climbed into my fighter. I hated the helmet but it was against regulation to take it off in the fighters, but lucky for me the cockpit layout blocked most people's view of me so once I clear the hanger I can take it off.

"Cloud Stromer squadron," I called over the mic as I flew out of the hanger of the large star ship. "Form up on me, enemy fleet is on the other side of the planet."

As I said this I pulled off my helmet and prepared myself mentally for what was to come.

They had launched attacks on our people all throughout the galaxy and more than that they captured the number three of my squad, Calypso and killed the one person I would have given up everything to protect. I could still remember all the good times we spent together. How could I not when we learned to fly together? I can't ever close the hatch on my fighter without thinking of him. That same old stupid grin that he wore while flying till the day he died.

FLASH BACK!

I was standing on a beach near my home town on Olympia when I was twelve. The town was nothing special, just a small trading town named Jupiter. I hated it here. To others it was a tropical paradise with lots of star shine and warm water to swim in but to me it was a prison. I wanted to see the other worlds, explore the galaxy, and maybe even find my place in the universe somewhere in the stars.

"Hay," Came a voice in back of me. I turned to see it was my friend, Percy. "Come on, were gona miss the ships!"

I grew excited at that. It was Empire Day, the day that celebrates the birth of the empire twelve years ago, today. To celebrate there was a parade today with plenty of space craft and star fighters to marvel at. With any luck, I would one day fly one.

"Yah," I began. "You're right."

He froze in mock shock.

"Wait," He exclaimed, sarcastically. "I couldn't have heard you right. Did you just say I am right? The force is crumbling! The galaxy is coming undone!"

I rolled my eyes, now accustomed to his belief in the force. I on the other hand preferred to use science and logic. So, the idea of an all-powerful force just seemed like nonsense to me.

"Uh-hu," I said in a board tone. "Sure it is. Now we should go before we miss the ships."

He nodded in agreement as we took off towards the town-square, where the parade was set to begin.

Once it began it was an awe-inspiring sight. Row after row of Storm Troopers marched by the town hall as Tie fighters preformed acrobatics overhead.

"That's going to be me someday." I told Percy as I watched the sky. "One day."

He nodded in agreement.

"It's a big universe." He said. "I don't like the idea of being stuck on this one planet for the rest of my life." He paused. "I found a way for us to learn to fly."

I looked him in the eye with a 'Don't you dare joke about that' look.

"It's true." He assured me. "My dad found an old T-47 air speeder for a reasonable price. He said we can use it to learn to fly."

My hopes rose in my chest until I remembered my parents. My mother hated Percy's father, and my father wanted me to be quiet and not do anything, at all. They would never go for this.

"You know I can't." I told him.

"Your parents don't need to know." He assured me. "By the time they find out we'll be off to the Imperial flight academy.

"That won't be for years." I pointed out. "How do I keep this secret for that long?"

"We'll find a way." He said with his signature, trouble maker's, grin.

While I didn't agree that we would get away with it I nodded to him.

"Sure," I told him. "Let's learn how to fly."

He flashed me a grin of pure excitement. I laughed at how goofy he looked.

Present day.

"Enemy fleet in sight!" My number two called out. "Do we have clearance to engage?"

"Fire at will!" I screamed as I pressed my thumb down on my trigger and saw my green lasers fly towards the swarm of enemy fighters in front of me.

When the swarm reached, us I called out to my squad.

"Break formation!" I screamed and rolled to the right, passing through two X-wings.

As I spun between them I locked onto a Y-wing and opened fire, destroying the ship in a single shot.

FLASH BACK!

I was fifteen, in the rear seat of Percy's T-47.

"Hang on back there!" He shouted to me as he rolled to the left.

"Just give me something to shoot at!" I teased him. "A challenging one this time, too."

I glanced over my right shoulder to see he was looking back at me over his left shoulder, using that stupid trouble maker's grin of his.

"You asked for it!" He laughed as he put us in a spinning dive.

Out my window I could see the sky rotating in a clockwise motion.

"Wamprat, cliff top!" Percy shouted as he pulled us out of the dive but continued to spin so fast I could barely tell which way was up and down.

"Got it!" I shouted as I spotted the cliff top moving away from me a break neck speeds.

It was tricky while spinning but I moved my turret and took a shot.

The blaster roared as it fired and the small explosion on the cliff top told me I hit my mark.

"I thought I told you to make it a challenge!" I called up to Percy as he leveled out from the spin.

"Hay," He protested indignantly. "Most people would have thrown up from that maneuver, let alone be able to aim a blaster and hit the mark."

"Well, I'm not most people." I told him. "I'm probably to only one on this rock who could take you, toe to toe, in a dog fight."

"Too bad I only have one speeder." Percy said in mock disappointment. "So, I guess we'll never know."

I laughed.

"True." I said. "Alright, you get one more pass then it's my turn to fly."

He turned to give me another sideways grin.

"Is that so?" He teased.

Present day!

"Watch your left!" My number two called out to me.

"There are fighters everywhere!" I called back. "Just take care of the threat and don't bother calling out positions of enemy's unless it's on your tail."

"Copy that." He said as I rolled to the right to give chase to a B-wing and shot it down with three laser bursts.

I then rolled to the left and pulled up to take aim on a A-wing and shot it down, sending it spiraling in a flame ball before it exploded.

I dove immediately to see a squad of X-wings crossing my flight path so I raked them with fire.

There were too many of them. The amount of chaos going on was over whelming. It reminded me of the simulator back in the flight academy.

Flash Back!

I was seventeen and in my first year of the Imperial Flight Academy.

"You there, wise girl?" I heard Percy ask over my radio.

"This is cadet 72356 to cadet 72357," I said. "I read you loud and clear." I said as the simulator screen switched on to reveal a massive enemy fleet up ahead. "Keep it tight." I told him.

"You do know that I am the squad leader, right?" Percy asked.

"Only because you're lucky that your stupid flying hasn't gotten you killed yet." I teased.

"Well that stupid flying," He began in a mock anger tone. "Won our squad the top rank for cadet pilot squad in the Academy."

"Oh please," I teased him. "We both know I could take you in a fight."

"And yet you can't out smart my counter attacks." He sighed.

"Counter attacks?" I began as the enemy fleet entered our range and I opened fire. "You kill your engines and shut down all your stabilizer so you can glide backwards in space and try to shoot down your pursuers." I shook my head. "That WILL get you killed one of these days."

He laughed.

"But that day is not today." He said as his simulated Tie-fighter came into view of my screen. "Stay on me."

With that he broke right and I followed as her rolled, bobbed, and weaved through the swarm of enemy fighters.

"You know any other pilot would be dead ten times over by now." I said to him.

"But we're not just any other pilot, are we?" he said with a playful tone as he shot down two fighters.

"I suppose we're not." I said as I corkscrewed under a X-wing to stay on Percy's tail.

"So, Annabeth," He began in a tone that didn't sound like him at all. He sounded scared.

This was the guy that would cork screw a T-47 through a gap in a canyon barley wide enough to fit the ship standing on its side. The same guy who had nerves of steel while diving towards the hills of Olympia at break neck speed and less than fifty feet to pull up. Yet he sounded nervous, almost terrified, in a simulation.

"Well," He continued. "What I was wondering," He continued to do this for a minute or so before I heard a click that told me he turned his coms off.

Not sure what was happening I pulled my Simulated Tie closer to his to provide cover fire if he needed it.

An A-wing was diving on him from nine-o'clock high, right from his blind spot.

'His coms are off!' My mind screamed at me. 'I can't warn him!'

So, I sped up my fighter and placed myself between the A-wing and Percy, my lasers roaring as I did.

The A-wing used it's superior agility to roll around my lasers and launched two missiles at me.

I broke to the left to try and lead the missiles away from Percy.

Rolling this way and that I tried my damdist to shake the missile lock.

'Come on, Percy!' I kept thinking. 'Your sensors must show you I'm in trouble here. So please do something. Whatever is going on in your life that you're not telling me about can't be so bad that you ignore this!'

I Couldn't dwell on this though because the enemy fighters were everywhere and all trying to shoot me down now that Percy and I were separated.

'Great, just perfect!' I thought sarcastically. 'Two seekers on my six and enough enemies around to over whelm a wrathtar.'

Just then my sensors showed the missiles were destroyed and some of the fighters I was dodging banked off to peruse another fighter in the aria.

I turned my Tie around to see they were chasing Percy.

'The hell does he think he's doing?' I thought. 'He's going to get himself killed drawing that much attention!'

Then I saw his engines shut down and the wobble told me his stabilizers were disabled.

"No!" I screamed. "There's too many for that!"

Of course, he couldn't hear me with his coms off but I couldn't help myself.

His Tie rotated upwards so it was now flying upside down and backwards through the vacuum of space.

"Percy!" I cried out as he opens fire and kills three simulated enemy.

I was racing to him as fast as I could but I wouldn't be in range for a few seconds. I was bobbing and weaving through the swarm of fighters, desperate to save my friend, if only in a simulation. We were told to take these seriously though, because if we let our friends die in these then we are likely to die when the real thing happens.

I was almost in range when it happened. Percy was swiveling his ship around like a turret to shoot down fighters as e drifted at a pretty fast rate through space. Then an A-wing zipped in behind him and let loose a battery of laser fire, ripping Percy's Tie to shreds.

"No!" I screamed out as I gave chase to the A-wing.

All logic had left my head now. To me it was no longer a simulation but the real thing because if I could lose him to simulated fighters then how could I defend him against the real thing?

As I chased the A-wing that got Percy I heard multiple warning sirens in my cockpit that meant I was being locked onto but I didn't care. This fighter would pay for what it did to Percy.

I was closing in fast on him as the alarms grew louder, trying to inform me I was moments from being shot out of the sky.

I ignored them, focusing on the fighter ahead of me.

Then my simulator capsule lurched as a bang went off and red lights started blaring. The view out my screen started to spiral. My gauges were telling me I was badly damaged on my right side but my only thought was on the fighter that was slipping away as I lost control of my fighter.

Moments later a fire ball consumed my screen and then everything went dark as text appeared on it.

Cadet 72356 simulation report,

KIA at 0900 hours

Report to C.O. for debrief.

My breath was shaky as I stepped out of my pod to find Percy standing outside, looking extremely apologetic.

"Annabeth," He began when he saw me. "Sorry for what happened back there."

"Why did you shut off your coms?" I demanded. "If this was real we would both be dead right now!"

"I'm sorry." He pleaded with me. "I didn't mean to tank our scores like that."

"Percy," I cut him off. "I was right there when that fighter got you." I said slowly. "I was right there when a simulated, easy to kill, A-wing blew you to hell." I paused. "If we can't survive these things then how will we survive out in a real dogfight with real pilots trying to kill us?"

He looked at his boots in shame.

"I'm sorry." He said again. "I got cocky and then I…" He paused. "I'm sorry."

He was clearly about to say something ells but couldn't bring himself to say it.

I could never bare to see him like this, even when I was pissed at him.

"Come here, Seaweed Brain." I told the fish loving boy, using the nickname I used to call him back on Olympia.

He looked at me with a confused smile as I pulled him into a hug.

"Just promise me you won't pull any more of those stunts again." I told him. "I don't think I could take it if I lost you for real."

He nodded as we broke off the hug.

"I promise."

Back to the Present!

As I continued to weave through the enemy fighters I caught my first look at their target. The grey mettle that would cause so much pain and suffering.

It's predecessor only lasted a day of active service but was responsible for millions of deaths. Now they had built a second Death Star. I understood the Rebels more in this fight then I ever had before. Building the first one was bad enough but a second? What would be the point but to bring pain and misery? I sighed as I remembered how naive I once was.

Flash Back!

I was fresh out of the academy. My first squad leader was a man from Alderan named Luke. He was a few a few years older than me, may be twenty-five, and I could tell right away he was battle hardened by the scar on the side of his face.

Also in the squad was a girl from Naboo named Calypso and Percy himself.

I was very pleased with that last part. Over the years, I had developed a crush on him that I thought I hid pretty well but it still made my heart skip a beat when he would pull his helmet off.

Out of the four of us Luke was the only one with any experience. The rest of us graduated the Academy two weeks ago.

"So," Luke began one day. "I know your all new and have that whole 'The Emperor saved us' Mentality but I don't run this unit like that." He paused. "In my squad, we fight to protect people. People back home, People on worlds we may never see, but especially the people in the Ties next to you. We all come home or we die trying to save each other."

I didn't like the way he talked about the Emperor but the other two of the squad seemed to be a little inspired by the speech so maybe I missed the point he was getting at.

"The Emperor doesn't care if we live or die so why should we die for him?" Luke asked. "Why die for him, I say die for the innocent people we defend, for our loved ones back home and for the squad who has our backs. There is no avoiding conflict but it gives it deeper meaning if we fight for something we believe in."

And so that's what we did. We fought for each other. Especially in the dogfight over Scarif.

There were Rebels everywhere. X-wings, Y-wings, cruisers, you name it. The fire fight was the most intense thing I had ever experienced. Even the hardest simulation didn't come close to how intense this was.

We rolled this way and that, covering each other when we needed it. I had a heart pounding moment when I saw Percy zip low to the shield with an X-wing on his tail and disappeared out of sight behind the shield structure before a fire ball erupted.

All I could think of was that I lost him forever. That I never told him how I felt and now I never would.

Then, out of the blue, I heard him speak over my commlink.

"Scratch one more!" He called excitedly.

"Percy?" I called out in shock. "But, the X-wing had you, how did you?"

"Pulled up at the last second," Percy said, "He was so target fixated that he didn't check his distance to impact and flew right into the shield."

"Nice moves, kid." Luke told him. "Keep that up and you'll be leading your own squad in no time."

'Or get himself killed' I thought sadly.

"You promised me you would stop pulling stunts like that." I said, letting out all the worry that had built up in the few moments that I thought he was dead.

"Sorry, Wise-girl." Percy said. "But sometimes the stupid stunts get the job done."

I could practically hear his trouble maker's grin through the com.

I then mentally cursed as my sensors warned me of an enemy fighter locking onto my Tie.

"Hostile on my six!" I called out.

"I see him!" Luke called out. "Calypso, watch my back while I get this guy off Annabeth!"

"On it!" Calypso replied.

I continued to bob and weave for a few seconds before my sensors showed the fighter was destroyed.

"Got him!" Luke cried out with a whoop. "Scratch one more for the people back home!"

As he said this I locked onto an X-wing and open fired on it.

I clipped the top right engine and sent it spiraling into a nearby star Destroyer.

"Nice shot!" Luke commented. "Just hold it together guys and we'll be alright. Remember what we fight for."

"All the way man." Percy called out.

"We're with you!" Calypso answered.

"The only good Rebel, is a dead one." I said, feeling the venom in my voice.

They were attacking an imperial planet. It was nothing short of terrorism and I would make them pay for it.

The thought went dead as the Rebels used a small ship to push a Star Destroyer, cutting the bridge off the one next to it and sending it into the shield gate.

"The hell are they thinking?" Percy cried out.

"All the poor people on those Star Destroyers." Calypso muttered.

"I'm more worried for the sanity of their captain," Luke said. "Ramming your ship into a Star Destroyer like that is suicidal."

"They're desperate." Percy said in a distant tone. "They are willing to lay down their lives for a chance of saving every one ells."

"Fanatical terrorists," I said. "every last one of them."

"Chill out, Annabeth." Luke told me. "We've got them pinned, there's no need to get worked up over this."

I took a deep breath.

"Your right." I said. "I'm sorry."

"Not a problem." Luke answered as multiple enemy craft made the jump to light speed.

I was about to curse when a cruiser's jump was cut short by slamming into a Star Destroyer that had just dropped out of light speed.

"And here comes the cavalry." Percy cheered.

"We've done enough squad." Luke called out. "Fall back to the Star Destroyer and rest up." He paused. "I get the feeling this isn't over."

Once we docked with the Star Destroyer I jumped out of my fighter and charged at Percy, who was just exiting his.

At first my plan was to clock him and scream my head off for making me think he was dead, even by accident, but when he turned around to face me I felt all my anger wash away as he gave me that lopsided grin.

"Hey, Wise girl." He greeted, his helmet tucked under his arm.

I dropped my helmet on the floor and wrapped my arms around him in the tightest hug I could manage as I fought back tears.

"I thought you died out there, Percy." I sobbed out, pulling him into an even tighter hug. "I saw the fighter on your tail and then the shield gate structure blocked you from view and the fire ball…"

"Ssshhh," Percy soothed me as he ran a hand through my hair. "I'm right here. You don't think you can get rid of me that easily, do you?"

It was roughly a day or two later that we heard reports of Alderan being destroyed by the death star. The emperor had declared the whole planet traitors because the royal family supported the Rebellion.

'Well traitors get what they deserve.' I thought as I had an internal war with myself on whether or not I was on the right side of this war. Anyone who could kill millions of people like that could not be a good person. So why did the Galaxy follow this man then? There had to be a reason.

'He was trying to send a message to the rebellion to stop this war!' my brain shouted at me in an attempt to prove to myself that I had not made a mistake in choosing my alliances. That the Empire was still good.

The squad took the news harder though. Luke in particular, being from Alderan that is.

He spent a lot of time talking with Calypso, she always was a good one to go to if you needed to be comforted. She would show him how his people died for a purpose and that he should be proud of that. Percy also spent a fair amount of time talking with Luke, but it seemed like a divide was growing between them. I didn't have time to consider what was going on because the next day Luke didn't show up for his duties. After searching the entire ship, we found out that he had taken a Lambda class shuttle and fled the ship. Luke was now a deserter of the Empire.

I was going to suggest to Percy that we volunteer to hunt Luke down to prove we were not traitors too when the news arrived that the Rebellion had destroyed the death star.

Thousands, if not millions of imperial troopers dead, and for what? Why so much death? None of this would have happened if the Rebellion would only accept that the Emperor was in charge.

Percy seamed disturbed by the news too.

"Annabeth," He asked me one day. "Have you ever wondered if we're on the right side of this war?"

I stared at him for a minute, trying to proses what he was asking me.

"We're pilots." I told him. "We don't make decisions like that. We take off, fly into battle, and, if we're lucky, we come home. Why we fight is above our pay grade."

He nodded, but I could tell he wasn't convinced.

"Yah," He said, giving me a reassuring smile that I didn't quite believe was genuine. "You're right, Wise-girl."

Present Day

I rolled to my left to dodge the fire of an oncoming Y-wing and opened up on it. The ship attempted to dive under my fire but I clipped its left engine, sending it into a spiral before it exploded.

"Scratch one more!" I called out as my eyes were again drawn to the Death Star.

'What are they thinking?!' I thought. 'Hasn't the galaxy suffered enough?'

I didn't have time to think about this though because an X-wing crossed my flight path and I gave chase to it.

The pilot was either balls-y or out of his fucking mind.

As I chased the X-wing the pilot corkscrewed between two Tie fighters in an attempt to shake me. Most pilots would accept that the gap between the two tie's was to small and let the X-wing go but after years of shooting through narrow gaps with Percy I was confident I could make it.

So, I corkscrewed my Tie and continued to chase the X-wing. As I followed though I began to recognize the flight pattern. The all-out, nothing to lose, way the fighter flew. I had only seen one rebel fly like this.

'It's him!' I thought in shock. 'It's the bastard that killed Percy!'

Flash Back

It was about six months since Luke deserted us and Percy was placed in command of the squad.

I would have been upset by this but he made me his number two so I wasn't too mad.

Ever since he took over he's been more and more distant. I can't help but long for the simple days when we were kids, doing stupid, life threatening, stunts in his T-47.

"You ok?" I asked him one day as we were hanging out in our barracks on the Star Destroyer.

He nodded.

"It's just, so much has changed." He said, staring into his cup of nutrition milk. "It seems like a life time ago that we were on Olympia, now we're in a war and millions of innocent people are dying." He paused. "And I'm not even sure were the ones trying to stop it all."

"Stop what?" I asked. "The war?"

He shook his head.

"What have the rebels actually done?" He asked. "Because I can't think of any attacks they've launched that targeted civilians. But the empire has destroyed worlds, imprisoned entire races, and regularly takes all the resources on every word they can."

I did not like what I was hearing. Sure, it made sense but if the empire found out what he was saying they would have him killed for treason.

"Don't talk like that." I told him. "Don't ever bring this up again."

He just stared at me.

"Why?" He asked. "So they won't kill me? I might as well be dead if this is my life."

"No," I cut him off before he could continue. "You're going to stop for me." I paused, not believing what I was about to say. "Because if you continue and they find out you will be shot and I can't live without you."

He stared at me for a moment, aw struck.

"Without me?" He echoed. "Annabeth."

"Percy, please promise me you won't do anything stupid." I cut him off.

He stared at the floor between his feet.

"Ok," He said. "I promise."

I smiled and leaned in closer to him.

"Thank you." I told him, giving him a pec on the lips.

I waited to see what he would do. I almost did a backflip when he kissed me back.

Then the alarms went off.

Rebel attack!

"Guess we'll have to continue when we get back." I teased him.

"Yah," He said in a faraway tone. "When we get back."

So we scrambled to put our flight gear on and ran to our fighters.

"Mount up!" Percy called out to the squad as he climbed into his fighter.

"Check in when you can hear me." Percy said through the com link.

"I can hear you." I said as I finished the checklists on my Tie.

"Copy." Calypso answered.

"I hear ya." Jason, our new rookie, checked in.

"Good," Percy said. "I want a scatter formation!"

'Scatter?' I thought. 'But that only works when there is at least a fleet of Ties. What is he getting at?'

Never the less I obeyed the order. As we flew out from the Star Destroyer I broke left as Calypso went right, Jason Dived and Percy stayed strait.

"Engage any and all targets!" Percy called out as he gave chase to an X-wing.

"You're straying pretty far away, Percy!" I called out as he followed the X wing closer and closer to the Rebel Cruiser.

"Keep on your sector!" Percy answered. "I got this guy."

The x-wing pulled up and spun to try and throw Percy off.

"Not today." Percy growled, staying on the Rebel's six.

Then the x-wing shot between two Y-wings to try and scare Percy off but Percy continued, matching the X-wing move for move.

"This guy's good." Percy commented.

Then The X-wing flew around the back side of the Cruiser with Percy on his six.

"Where you going?" Percy asked the X-wing pilot in a mocking tone, even though the pilot couldn't hear him. "Wha?!" There was a pause and I couldn't see his Tie anymore.

"Percy?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"Son of a bitch shut his stabilizers off, he's gona use my move!" He answered. There was another pause. "Fuck! Annabeth I…"

He was cut off by static.

"Percy?" I asked.

No response.

"Percy?!" I yelled.

'No, no, no, no, no, no,' Was all that kept repeating in my head.

They had killed Percy.

"Gut the bastard!" I called out as I accelerated towards the enemy cruiser only to watch in horror as it jumped into light speed and disappeared in the blink of an eye along with the X-wing that had killed Percy.

'No.' The one word echoed around my head. He was gone.

Present Day!

"This one's mine!" I called out into my mic as rage flooded through me.

"You ok?" my number two asked me. "You sound a little off."

"I'll be fine once this bastard's dead!" I called out.

"What's so special about that one?" the number three of my squad asked.

"It's the pilot that killed Percy." I answered in a dark tone as the X-wing broke free of the swarm of fighters into a patch of empty space. 'Big mistake.' I thought as the fighters engine shut off, sending a wave of confusion through me. Then horror sunk in as I realized the pilot had shut down the stabilizers.

The X-wing swiveled around so it was flying upside down and backwards compared to me. I knew I was locked onto and didn't have enough time to do anything but pray before I would be blasted into oblivion.

'I'm sorry Percy.' I thought as my eyes snapped shut, waiting for my death.

Bing, Bing, Bing.

My console signaled that someone was trying to open a privet line of communication.

I peeked my eyes open, surprised that I was still alive.

Bing, Bing, Bing. My console chimed again.

'What? Why haven't I been vaporized yet?

My eyes flew out my window to the X-wing's in confusion as I locked eyes with the rebel pilot only to freeze in shock.

The pilot pointed to his dash board to signal to me to answer my com.

Bing, Bing, Bing.

'I can't answer that, can't talk to this bastard. There's no way I'm going to do it.' I thought as I reached forward and hit the commlink button to activate it.

"Hay, Wise-girl." Percy's voice filled my ears. "It's been a while."

Percy was giving me a sad smile from his X-wing as he floated through the vacuum in front of me.

"You're supposed to be dead." I said bluntly as I felt my mind locking itself down to protect me from my emotions.

"Yah," He answered. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry?" I demanded. "You're sorry?"

He nodded.

"You're a traitor! And you think that saying I'm sorry is enough?!" I screamed at him.

He sighed.

"I never wanted it to be like this." He said.

As much as I wanted to be furious, I could hear the hurt and a weight of a long and costly war in his voice.

"I couldn't continue to serve." He said. "Not after all I've seen the Empire do. Not with that much blood on its hands."

"You betrayed the Empire." I said in a low tone. "You left the squad and beyond that you left ME."

He sighed again.

"I hope that one day you can forgive me for this," He began. "But the Empire isn't what we thought it was when we joined. I know you, Annabeth. You never wanted to hurt anyone. You never wanted people to die but they built a machine to wipe out whole planets. How is the Rebellion the terrorists if this is the Empire's idea of justice? What happened to the girl I knew who only wanted to find her place in the stars?"

I saw him turn to look out the side of his cockpit towards the new Death Star.

"They need to be stopped, Annabeth." He said in a pleading tone.

On the one hand, I knew he was right. The Empire has done awful things. But the Rebellion isn't innocent either.

"Your people took Calypso." I told him in a flat tone. "Is she being treated well or did you have her killed?"

"The Empire lied about what we do with the captured." He told me. "We don't kill them, and as far as she is concerned, she's fine. We didn't capture her, she defected like I did. She's in my squad."

More anger flooded through me. Who hadn't betrayed me?

"For old time's sake, I'm not going to blast you to bits now." I told him. "But next time I see you I will shoot you down. So, I suggest you make the jump to hyperspace and get out of here."

With that I banked to the right and ended the com link between our ships. Out ahead of me the fight was still raging. I locked onto a Y-wing and chased it for a short while as Percy's words echoed in my head. Making me question what it was that I was fighting for.

I pressed the trigger and vaporized the Y-wing.

I rolled to the right to dodge an inbound A-wing and dove under a Rebel cruiser. I banked to the left to find a target, flying along the underside of the enemy cruiser. As I looked around I saw an X-wing making a pass on the engines of a Star Destroyer. I banked off and gave chase, praying that it would be just another Rebel pilot and not Percy. I don't think I could live knowing I killed him.

As I closed the distance between me and the X-wing my sensors picked up another X-wing was closing on me from eight o'clock high. I dove to the left to try and shake the X-wing, effectively abandoning any chance of shooting down the one I was chasing.

Unfortunately, there was a squad of A-wings right where I had pointed my ship. I pressed my trigger, killing one but the other two open fired at me. I barrel rolled to the right to dodge the fire but was hit from underneath. I checked the sensor to see it was the X-wing I had tried to escape from.

I quickly took stock of the damages to my ship as I tried to escape the enemy fighters.

'Shit!' Was my only thought as I read the gauges.

Engine and stabilizer failures along with limited power. I figured I had a few seconds before I would start to spin uncontrollably.

As if on que I started to spin to the left and my tie lost the engines, rapidly crashing towards the forest moon of Endor. My Tie would never survive hitting the atmosphere in this spin. I shut my eyes, embracing my death for the second time that day.

Was the Empire really worth this? It had taken my friends and made them my enemies. It made me threaten Percy and now I could never make it right. I was going to die any second and I couldn't tell him I was sorry. That I was surprised and angry at him but that I couldn't bring myself to hate him.

BANG!

The spinning studently stopped and my eyes snapped open to find I was still crashing towards the planet but the spinning had stopped.

I checked my sensors to find my left wing was being spurted by the top right wing of an X-wing.

Bing, Bing, Bing.

My com flashed on my dashboard.

I answered to hear Percy's voice.

"You're ok." He told me. "I got ya."

"Percy?" I asked him. "Why? We're on opposite sides of this war."

He chuckled. "We may not be wearing the same uniforms, but I know you and we could never be enemies."

I smiled at that. I couldn't see him right now but I bet he was wearing that stupid grin of his.

"Just like in training." He told me. "Gentle spurted glide slope than you punch out once were low enough."

"Thank you." I told him as my sensors picked up that we had made it into the atmosphere.

"Anytime." He said. "let's drop another thousand feet then you punch out."

"Ok." I said as I shifted my controls this way and that so my Tie would stay balanced on Percy's wing. In training this was always a last-ditch effort to live and had never been done successfully in the field. The problem was that the two pilots had to be in perfect sync to pull it off. Even one wrong twitch of the controls and they both die. But, like he said, Percy knew me too well. The way we fly is ingrained deeply into the others mind.

"Ok," Percy's words interrupted my thoughts. "Time to punch out. See you on the ground Wise-girl."

"Thank you, Percy." I told him. "And you were right. The Empire is not what we thought it was."

With that I pulled the lever on my ejection seat and braced myself for the launch.

'Any second now.' I thought as I gripped the sides of my seat.

"You gona punch out?" Percy asked me.

"Already pulled the lever." I told him. "I think my seat is fried. I can't punch out!"

"Stay calm." He told me. "We made it this far, we can get you to the ground."

"That's the problem." I told him. "The second you pull off my Tie will spin out and crash. I can't land her like this."

"Do you trust me?" He asked, cutting off my rant.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you trust me?" He repeated a bit slower.

This was Percy asking me. I trusted him during all those stupid stunts back home. I trusted him throughout training. I trusted him in all the battles we fought side by side in. And then he left me to fight for the rebellion. As hard as that was to accept I still trusted him.

"Of course, I trust you." I told him.

"Then hang on." He said as I felt a lurch and my Tie started to spin out before reconnecting with his wing. I had to drop my right wing to keep from slipping sideways into his engine.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded.

"Just had to close my X foils." He said. "Makes it easier to try and land."

That's when his plan hit me. He was going to crash-land with me, keeping my Tie stable until he hit the ground, at which point my Tie only would have about three or four feet of altitude so it would be very hard to spin out.

"No!" I screamed at him. "You're going to get yourself killed doing that. What if I slip up and take your ship out, what if the approach is too hot and you die, trees, rocks, there are too many ways this can go south."

"I know." He said. "I can't say about trees or rocks, but I do know you're not going to slip up. After all you're the only pilot who could take me toe to toe in a dog fight."

"You had me dead to rights up there." I pointed out. "I'm not as good as you."

"You held with me, and almost had me up there." He said as we hit a patch of turbulence and it had to mess with my controls to stay balanced on his wing. "Only reason I'm still breathing is I used that stabilizer trick that you say will get me killed."

"That's because it will get you killed." I said with a laugh.

Despite how screwed up everything is, it was nice to have Percy back.

It was here that warning indicators went off on my dashboard.

"Immanent impact." My console warned me. "Pull up, pull up, pull up."

"Percy!" I cried out as I saw our landing zone was covered in tall trees. "Percy!"

"We got this!" He called back. "I'll see you soon, Annabeth."

WHAM!

There was a loud mettle on wood sound as Percy's X-wing hit a tree. Instantly my Tie started to spin out with twenty feet left before I hit the ground.

"Percy!" I called out as I spun past a tree and knocked off my right wing.

BOOM!

I slammed into the ground, hoping the Tie wouldn't explode. There was a scraping sound as my Tie skidded across the surface. Finally, there was a loud thunk and my ship stopped moving. I unbuckled myself and wrestled with my hatch to try and get out of the ship. There was smoke flooding the capsule from electrical fires. Once the hatch opened I climbed out and breathed in gasps of fresh air.

My Tie was missing the right wing and the capsule part was partially buried and pressed to a tree that it had skidded into, with smoke billowing out of the hatch. I had no idea how I had survived such a landing.

I looked around to see Percy's X-wing was about twenty yards away, it's left wings were gone and its nose up till just before the windscreen was buried in the dirt. There were holes in the glass that smoke poured out of. The machinery in back of the cockpit was on fire and the droid's head was missing.

"No!" I yelled as I charged towards the wrecked ship.

When I got there the smoke was so thick in the cockpit that I couldn't see him. I grabbed a hold of the windscreen and lifted with all my might, managing to open the cockpit.

Inside was Percy, slumped forward in his Rebel Pilot's uniform, his eyes shut.

"No, you don't." I growled as I unbuckled his seat belt and dragged his body from the ship to a fallen tree about ten yards away.

I propped him up against the tree and let out a sigh of relief when I found his pulse.

About ten minutes went by before he stirred.

"Annabeth." He muttered as he stirred. Then his eyes snapped open and he woke with a start. "ANNABETH!"

His eyes were wild and frantic as he searched his surroundings until they landed on me.

He let out a breath and pulled me into a hug.

"It's good to see you too." I said with a chuckle, rapping him in a hug.

We stayed like that for the longest time. The two of us just knelt there in the underbrush, embracing each other.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked me after a few minutes as he removed his helmet to reveal his raven black hair.

"I don't know." I admitted. "Maybe we should disappear."

He frowned in consideration when we heard a massive explosion overhead, startling us both.

Where the Death Star was in the sky was a giant fire ball.

"Looks like the Rebellion took out another one." I commented. "I only hope it's the last time the Emperor tries to build one."

"He won't." Percy assured me. "He was onboard the Death Star today when we attacked."

My eyebrows went up in surprise.

"He's dead?" I asked.

Percy shrugged.

"I don't know if he escaped but he probably died in the explosion." He said, staring up at the fire ball. "With any luck, he can't hurt anyone ever again."

"You do realize that with him dead there will be a massive power struggle and the Galaxy will be in chaos." I pointed out.

He nodded.

"That's why I can't disappear." He said. "The rebellion needs all the people it can get to help stop the chaos that's about to be unleashed."

It was at this point that he tore his eyes off the sky and locked them with mine.

"I'd feel a lot better if you would come with me." He said. "Flying just isn't the same without you. I'm always paranoid that my wingman doesn't have my back and terrified that your squad is the one we're fighting." He paused. "I guess I was either guided by the force or got extremely lucky today that I found you. I don't want to lose you again."

I smiled at his last words.

"So, what? I join the Rebellion and betray my squad?" I asked.

"Please." Percy pleaded. "I need you."

Staring into his eyes, I could see just how desperate he was. How longing he was for me to join him.

Do you trust me? His words form the crash echoed around my head.

He was right that the Empire wasn't what we thought to was and until now I was too proud to admit we had messed up by joining. But that didn't make the rebellion good either. I had heard some pretty bad things about them.

Do you trust me?

"Ok." I told him. "I trust you."

A huge, dopy, grin flooded his face as he embraced me in another hug.

"Just promise me one thing." I told him as he leaned back. "Never leave me again."

His grin turned into his signature lopsided grin.

"Never." He promised before leaning forward and kissing me.

I had kissed him back, neither of us wanting this moment to end. Before I knew it, my armor was feeling heavy so I began to shed it while still kissing him. I was no longer with the empire anyway.

As I did this Percy took off his chest rig and white vest and let them drop to the floor. His gloves were soon to follow as I tore mine from my hands and continued to enjoy the feeling of his lips. It just felt right. Like nothing ells could possibly matter.

I found my hands unzipping his orange jumpsuit and pushing it off his shoulders and down to his hips. At this point I rapped my arms around his neck as he pulled down the zipper of my jumpsuit and gently pushed it down off my shoulders and I had to pull my arms away from him to get the sleeves off but quickly placed them back around his neck as we continued to kiss. His lips moving against mine as his hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer, our bare chests pressed together. As we kissed I kicked off my boost, still kneeing, as he gripped my ass and pulled me up onto his lap so I was straddling him. I leaned forward, forcing him to lie down with me on top of him. His hand slid up to my hips then back down as they pushed my jumpsuit lower and lower.

Time Break!

POV: Annabeth

I woke up to birds chirping the next day. My eyes slowly drifted open as I took in the lush green forest around me. I could feel Percy's arm still draped around my side and his warm breath on the back of my neck. I pulled myself closer to him, enjoying the way his chest would rise and fall against my back as he slept. Eventually though I knew we would have to get up.

"Percy." I whispered to him as I gently shook his arm that was wrapped around me. "we have to get up."

"No." He muttered back. "Stay."

"We have to find a way out of here before the Rebellion leave us behind." I told him. "Come on."

He sided and removed his arm from my side, much to my disappointment.

"You're right." He sighed. "As usual."

I gave him a smile.

"See," I teased him. "You learn."

We set about gathering out clothes that were scattered all over the place and getting dressed. I only bothered putting on my boots and jumpsuit, leaving the armor. Percy on the other hand grabbed all his gear, strapping on the vest and chest gear but carrying his helmet under his arm.

"I switched on my emergency distress beacon." He told me. "If they haven't left yet they should be here soon."

He paused for a moment before he walked over to me and griped my sleeve tightly. I was about to question what he was doing when he tore the Imperial patch off my suit.

"Won't be needing this anymore." He said as he let it fall to the dirt.

I gave him a peck on the cheek when the sound of ship engines could be heard over head and a Rebel gunship descended towards us. When the doors swung open I found myself Face to face with Luke, Calypso and another pilot that I didn't recognize.

"Percy!" They all called out excitedly.

"We thought you bought it yesterday!" Luke said with a laugh. "Had a drink to remember you by and everything."

It was at this point that the three realized he wasn't alone.

"Annabeth?" Calypso asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the dogfight yesterday." I told her. "Got hit pretty bad, Percy walked me in for a crash landing."

They all seemed pretty surprised.

"You helped an Imperial pilot land?" Luke asked Percy.

"It's Annabeth, Luke." Percy pointed out. "I wasn't going to let her die. Besides, she's on our side now."

Luke eyed me suspiciously.

"Really?" He questioned. "The loyal Imperial pilot who thinks 'The only good Rebel is a dead one' Is on our side now?"

I nodded.

"I've changed since then." I told him. "I learned to fight for those I care about. And right now, the people I care about are fighting for the Rebellion, so fighting for the Empire would be counterproductive."

Luke continued to eye me suspiciously.

"Even if you don't trust Annabeth," Percy cut in. "You can trust me."

"No, I can't." Luke said. "You're thinking with your dick and you know it."

"I'll vouch for her." Calypso offered. "Back when I was in her squad, after Percy left but before Leo got me out, she was distraught because she thought he was dead and most of her motives for fighting the Rebellion seemed to be based around the idea that one of us killed him."

Percy gave me another apologetic smile.

"Again," He said. "Sorry for that."

I gave him my best evil eye.

"You should have told me your plan." I told him. "I would have left with you."

"I was afraid that if I told you," He began. "That maybe you wouldn't come."

Luke let out a sigh.

"Fine." He said. "Welcome to the team I guess."

It was here that the other Pilot stepped forward.

"Leo." He said, extending a hand for me to shake.

"Annabeth." I said as I shook his hand.

"Nice to finally meet the girl Percy won't shut up about." Leo said with a grin, making me blush.

"Leo," Calypso said harshly and pulling his ear. "Leave the poor man alone."

As Leo struggled to get free of the death grip Calypso had on his ear, Percy and I climbed onto the gunship.

"Welcome to Lightning Squadron." Percy told me as the ship took off.

Time Break!

POV: Annabeth

"No, that's ok R6." I told my droid as I continued to work on my X-Wing's bottom right stabilizer.

The dam thing had been giving me trouble for two weeks now and I think I finally figured out what was wrong.

My droid, R6A3, was a gold astro-mech with grey parts here and there.

"Beep Beep weeerp." R6 said, re orienting its head to analyze my stabilizer.

"I'm telling you it's off." I told the droid. "Diagnostic scans or not I'm the pilot and if I don't like how it's preforming then it needs to change."

"Wear Beep Verp." R6 pointed out as it wheeled over to the tip of the right wings and analyzed the blasters.

"That's what you said about the thrust out put on engine two last week and we both know I've been flying better since I changed it." I told the droid as I cranked down a fastener on the stabilizer. "There we go." I said to myself, satisfied with my work.

"Got her all sorted?" a voice asked in back of me.

I turned around to find Leo walking across the hanger of our cruiser as he used a rag to get the grease, from his X-wing, off his hands.

"Yah." I told him. "R6 seems to think I made a mistake with the modifications though."

Leo looked puzzled and proceeded to check my stabilizer.

"Well," He commented as he observed my work. "It's certainly un orthodox. I can see what you're going for but this mod won't hold for long. Tell you what, you let me work on her for a half hour and I'll have your stabilizers all set with no chance of it braking off the ship."

"Breaking off the ship?" I asked him.

He nodded and proceeded to go into a bunch of tech talk I didn't fully understand about a critical flaw in the mod I made that would cause the stabilizer to drift off into space one in every one hundred times I fire the X-wing up. Then he told me how he would do the mod to perform the same way but be a lot safer.

"Thanks, Leo." I told him as R6 let out a frustrated beep.

"I listen to you." I told the droid.

"Beep Beep." It responded as I rolled my eyes.

"R6 giving you trouble again?" Percy asked as he came over and leaned against the bottom right blaster barrel.

I shrugged.

"It's healthy to hear a different opinion every now and then." I told him. "Even if it is wrong." I added shooting the droid a glance as it swiveled its head around to face me. If it could have a facial expression it I know it would be glaring at me.

"Well, I hope you two can still work together." Percy said. "Because Luke's putting together a briefing in an hour. We got a new mission coming up."

I nodded and turned to Leo.

"Think you'll have her done in time?" I asked him and he nodded.

"To be honest I might have lied to you." He told me with a grin.

"What?" I asked in surprise.

"It will only take me fifteen minutes to fix all four stabilizers but I said a half hour to make myself look better when I finish early." She confessed with a shrug.

I shook my head and sighed.

"Thanks, Leo." I told him with a frustrated sigh.

"No problem!" He replied with a smirk as R6A3 beeped in back of me.

"I do not always break the ship!" I growled at the droid. "Considering some of the scrapes we've been in I thinks it's impressive that we're even alive!"

Percy laughed as I argued with the droid.

"Come on." He told me as he led me off towards the briefing room. "Let's grab some food before the briefing."

I nodded and followed him.

The food in the mess hall wasn't much. Just rations and some energy liquid (AN: Think of it like space coffee!)

Once we ate it was still a half hour to briefing.

"So how you want to kill our last few minutes?" Percy asked me.

It had become a dark joke between us that every moment we were together would be our last. We had survived so much and cheated death time and time again. He said it was the force, I said it was luck, but we both agree that it wouldn't last indefinitely. One of these days, one of us, will be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, we cherish every moment we spend together.

"I hear the vie of the galaxy is great in this sector." I told him. He nodded and followed me to the observation deck. Outside the screen was our galaxy. Large and bright. My chest swelled with pride to think that it was slowly becoming the New Republic. That the Empire was slowly diminishing. It was still a threat but, with enough effort, we could do this. We could save the galaxy from ever having to face another death star like weapon ever again. All we had to do was fight a little longer.

"We should probably go." Percy told me, pulling me from my thoughts.

I hadn't realized how long we had been sitting here.

"Yah." I told him and, reluctantly, followed him to the briefing room.

Inside was our whole squad. Luke was standing in the center, prepared to begin.

"Right on time." He told us. "Now, here's the mission. The world we're being sent to isn't much more that a ball of sand and junk. Tactically it's relatively unimportant."

"Why are we being sent in then?" Calypso asked.

"The Empire is sending star destroyers to take the planet and try and gain a foot hold to come back to power." Luke told her. "While the planet might not mean anything to the New Republic, it means everything to our enemies. So, we must deny them this rock at all costs." He paused. "Also, there is a sub mission being launched. A hand full of New Republic solders who used to be imperial troops will storm and capture a star destroyer for our own use. We are to cover their approach and, if necessary, their retreat. Once they have taken the ship or retreated, we will descend to the planet to assist the ground troops. Understood?"

We all nodded.

"Anny questions?" He asked, glancing at all of us.

"One." I said. "Where are we going exactly?"

"Jaku." Luke answered, curtly.

Time Break!

"Lightning one to squad," Came Luke's voice over my com. "All wings, report in."

"Lightning two, standing by." Leo said.

"Lightning three, standing by." Percy announced.

"Lightning four, standing by." Calypso checked in.

"Lightning five, standing by." I said as I formed up on Percy's wind, taking my place in the assault formation. The desert world of Jaku filling my screen.

"All wings, lock X-foils in attack formation." Luke told us. "Lighting two and four break left on my mark, Lightning tree and five break right on my mark. I'll head across the turret's axis and draw their fire so our transports can boar the ship. Two and four take care of our transports and get them in for a safe landing. Three and five handle any Ties in the aria. Once the transports are safely away two and four will assist me with flanking any remaining tie's as tree and five continue to draw fire."

"Sounds like we got the short end of the stick." Percy commented as he moved into position to break right.

"We got this." I assured him.

"Remember squad," Luke cut in. "No heroics. We do this right and we all go home. Soon enough this war will end. I want all of us there to see it."

The squad all replied with "Copy" and "You bet"s

"Alright then." Luke said. "Mark!"

I broke to the right and set a course for the left flank of the star destroyer from their point of view. From ours it was the right.

"Ties are scrambling." Percy called out as Luke flew low to the ship's surface, drawing the turret fire away from the rest of the squad and approaching transports."

"Let's get em!" I called to Percy.

We were heading right at them but we needed to get them away from the ship so our transports could board. So, we fired on them and killed about three of the twenty launched before breaking right. The ties chased us with the exception of three that went for the transports but Leo and Calypso could handle them.

"Here we go again." I muttered as I followed Percy. He did an about face and flew into the swarm of ties, hoping they weren't crazy enough to fire at him and risk hitting their comrades.

"This is suicide!" I told him as R6 Beeped in agreement.

"We need to buy them time!" Percy screamed back. "I got one on my six!"

"I see him!" I answered as I pulled up in back of the Tie and fried him with a quick laser burst. "Bank left, we won't last much longer like this. If they don't shoot us down then we'll accidently fly into one!"

"Just like Zeus' fist back home!" I heard him reply. I could practically see his smirk.

"Well, if that's the case," I began. "Break right and go for a hair trim throttle rev." I told him.

"Cork screw, high, low?" He asked me.

"Just like in basic." I told him.

"You know this will probably kill us, right?" He said as I spun to avoid a Tie.

"Any other pilots and you'd be right." I told him.

"Lucky for us, we're not just any pilots." He finished for me. "Let's do it wise-girl!"

Percy broke right and cut his throttle as I cork screwed around his ship, firing my lasers as I did. This resulted in three Ties exploding as, from their point of view, Percy randomly turned and slowed to a snail's pace and another fighter(Me) popped over his top and fired before they could react.

Then Percy throttled up as he fired at the enemy, killing two. I swung right in a wide ark to cover his left and rear as he plowed through a group of Ties, lasers blazing.

One he was through I sped up and did a barrel roll over his cockpit so I would drop in on his right wing and slightly in back of him.

"The hell is going on?" Percy asked. "The star destroyer is heading for the planet."

I glanced over and saw e was right.

"Lightning one to squad." Luke said. "Mission is a failure, they failed to take the ship. All raid team members are evacuating on the transports or heading to escape pods. The ship captain set the ship to crash into Jaku!"

"Crazy Bastard." Percy muttered.

"He's doing his duty." I told him. "Any officer would do the same."

"Some actually value their lives and the lives of their crew." Leo cut in. "This is suicide."

"Cut the chatter and focus on the mission!" Luke cut in. "The transports are almost away. Once they are head to Jaku. Forget the Ties, they're trapped here without the star destroyer any way."

"Copy that!" I answered as Percy rolled inverted and I did the same.

We pulled up so we were aimed right at Jaku and accelerated towards the planet, leaving the Ties in our dust. Once we reached the planet we saw two Ties about to strafe the sand where New Republic solders were. We accelerated as fast as we could inside the atmosphere and opened fire on the Ties. Percy's Tie exploded instantly but I only clipped the right wing of mine, causing it to spin to the right and crash in the sand. I cut my engines to try and slow down before I would crash into the ground and pulled up from the dive. Once my nose was level with the horizon I throttled up to try and counter the momentum still dragging my ship towards the sand.

R6 was whirring and beeping franticly to try and give me advise.

"I know we're in trouble!" I told the droid. "Just hang on!"

Luckily my ship started to gain altitude twenty feet from the sand.

I quickly glanced around and spotted Percy off my left wing about fifteen feet away and five feet up.

"Glad to see you made it." I told him as he drifted towards me to form up, as we both rapidly gained altitude.

"Yah," He answered with a chuckle in his voice. "That was awesome! I mead did you see that, OH SHIT!"

He studently rolled left and into a Split-S Dive." (AN Look up that maneuver, it's nail biting stuff at low altitudes.)

I glanced up as I instinctually followed his lead, trusting him fully. As I rolled left I looked out the right side of my cockpit to see a flaming star destroyer careening towards me. I completed the roll over and pulled up into a dive, desperate to get away.

I cut my throttle to make the turn tighter and continued to pull up, trying to reverse the direction I came from, Percy's X-wing was visible off my nose as he did the same.

The sand was approaching quickly and I knew we were running out of time. Either the star destroyer would hit us or we would hit the sand, or both.

I continued to fight my stick to try and pull up faster. Once my nose was close to the horizon I throttled up to max speed, well, with in the atmosphere.

As my ship sped up I continued to pull up, not wanting to hit the horizon and only thirty feet of altitude between me and the ground. I risked a glance back to see the star destroyer slamming into the sand one hundred yards in back of me, the shock wave rattling my small fighter.

"Still don't believe in the force?" Percy asked me, his voice shaky with nerves. "Or was that luck as well?"

"Luck?" I asked him, my voice just as shaky. "Luck had nothing to do with it. That was all skill."

He laughed at my humor. We both knew how close to death we just were but at the same time, we still had a fight ahead of us so we couldn't dwell on it now.

There would be plenty of time for that later.

The war ended soon after Jaku. The New Republic had won. And the Rebel army was disbanded. Now many of us were hailed as heroes, hell I was just happy not to be arrested for my time as an imperial pilot, but we all knew what we did was right. As far as my squad went, Luke joined the New Republic's fleet as a pilot where he still serves to this day, Thirty years later, as the commander of all their fighter wings. Leo and Calypso disappeared during the last days of the war when their fighters were hit in a dogfight and Leo was forced to jump to hyperspace with Calypso not far behind. Engenders said they probably died due to the damage it the engines but I heard a rumor of an ace mechanic/pilot on a small moon called Ogygia that sounds suspiciously like some people I know.

As for me and Percy. We found a small city in the outer rim called New Rome. From there we built a home and a small business as stunt pilots, flying tourists through narrow canyons and over mountain tops. It's not muck but it's ours. After seeing so much of the galaxy at war, and flying to distant worlds, I was happy just to have a place to call home with Percy at my side. He likes to tease me, saying "You finally found your place among the stars." When in reality we both know it was never really about finding my place but rather finding someplace for us to be together.


End file.
